The great Dr.Hunter S. Thompson would not agree on this, and if you look at the facts, Hunter S. was not scared of death. He was sick, and he was fed up. The other thing is that his wife heard him loading the gun, on the phone, like she told the police. There were also people in the house, that heard the shot, his son Juan who said it sounded like a book hitting the floor. Then people start "but that must be a silencer!", and they forget that it will sound muffled if you stick the gun inside your mouth.